Real Madrid fired manager Carlo Ancelotti on Monday, making him the 12th coaching casualty since 2003 at one of the most trigger-happy clubs in Europe.

Ancelotti paid the price for a spring without a major title, despite delivering Real’s coveted 10th European cup just a year ago. Real president Florentino Perez made the announcement at a news conference in Madrid on Monday evening.

“It was not an easy decision but it is time to reinvigorate the team to conquer new titles,” he said in Spanish. He added that the club’s board would announce a replacement next week. Read More »

It took six months. But the momentum in the La Liga title race swung from Real Madrid to Barcelona on Sunday night.

The all-conquering Real that won 22 games in a row last fall is gone. So is the Barça that played like its stars—Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez—had only been introduced before the match. All that remains is Barcelona sitting four points clear of Madrid atop the standings after winning the latest Clasico, 2-1, on Sunday night. Read More »

Cristiano Ronaldo is the leader in Google searches in the U.S. and globally.

Zuma Press

As the World Cup unfolds in living rooms and bars around the world, information-craving fans are logging onto the internet to research the players who catch their attention.

At its World Cup war room in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood, the Google Trends team has been capturing those searches in real time and turning the most interesting search spikes into curated news nuggets. For example, after Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne slotted home a goal against the U.S. on Tuesday, they noted that searches for him increased exponentially, as did those for his royal doppelganger Prince Harry. Read More »

Manaus, the biggest city in Brazil’s vast Amazon region, has quickly earned a reputation as one of the most festive cities hosting the World Cup.

Locals in many of Brazil’s biggest cities such as São Paulo got off to a slow start celebrating the Cup, a reflection of the traumatic year of street protests and political debates about whether the $11.5 billion price tag was worth it—and whether the money would have been better spent improving hospitals and schools. Read More »

The Journal provides minute-by-minute analysis of the 2014 World Cup Group G game between Germany and Portugal. Joshua Robinson offers commentary from the Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, while Joe E. Melvin and Marcus Walker provide analysis on the television broadcast.

11:12 am (EDT)

Pregame

Marcus Walker

Welcome to Germany vs Portugal, another clash of two World Cup heavyweights. Let’s hope it’s as exciting as the Netherlands’ thrashing of Spain or Italy’s narrow win over England.

The omens are good. Portugal features (arguably) the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo. Germany was probably the most entertaining team in the last few major tournaments.

Germany is among the perennial favorites for the World Cup. Portugal is a perennial dark horse. But neither team has won anything lately. Now they’re both hungry. Their star players know this might be their last chance to enter the history books.

Ronaldo is the current holder of club soccer’s MVP award, the Ballon d’Or (“Golden Ball”). He powered Real Madrid to victory in this year’s Champions League, the top prize in the European club game, outshining his only real rival for world’s best player, Leo Messi of Argentina.

He’s in the form of his life. But he’s also 29. This could be his last chance to make a big World Cup impact while he still has his searing pace.

Portugal is no one-man team, as they showed in crushing Ireland 5-1 in a warm-up game in New Jersey last week. But without Ronaldo, they don’t offer the same threat on the counter-attack.

Germany doesn’t rely as much on an individual. If there’s a key man, it’s coach Jogi Löw (pronounced “Luhv”). He has masterminded Germany’s transformation since 2006, when he was the assistant to Jürgen Klinsmann, now the U.S. team coach.

In the past, Germany played dull, muscular soccer and won everything in sight. Since the Klinsmann/Löw revolution, Germany has become a pacy, attacking team with a flaky defense, more likely to win by 4-3 than 1-0.

But a gifted generation of German players hasn’t won anything – unlike previous generations of Germans who were less talented, but better at winning ugly.

Germany’s soccer-mad public – already gathering at the Brandenburg Gate here in Berlin and knocking back some beers as I write – is starting to wonder whether Löw’s lions are doomed to be beautiful losers. Or as Germans say, “brotlose Künstler” (“breadless artists”).

The Journal provides minute-by-minute analysis of the Champions League group stage match between Real Madrid and Juventus. Joshua Robinson (@JoshRobinson23) offers commentary.

2:21 pm (EDT)

Pregame

The Champions League group stage doesn’t usually do make-or-break games—at least not usually in October. But Juventus, the defending champion of Italy, is already in trouble in a group it was expected to survive comfortably.

Juve could really use a victory after surprise draws in its first two games against Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen left it on just two points. So facing Real Madrid in Spain tonight is far from ideal. Assuming the other game in the group tonight doesn’t end in a tie, then anything but a win will leave Juventus third in the group.

Madrid, meanwhile, has rolled through its first two games, winning them by a combined score of 9-1. A win tonight would all but assure qualification for the Round of 16.

Still, it hasn’t been the easiest start for Real in La Liga this season, though 22 points from nine games is entirely respectable. Except it’s only good enough for third place in La Liga because Barcelona and Real’s crosstown rival Atletico have started absolutely on fire—those two sides have one defeat and one draw combined.

“I think we have improved since the start of the season,” Real manager Carlo Ancelotti said in his prematch news conference Tuesday. “We have more confidence and are playing with greater intensity.”

The big intrigue for Real tonight is that once again Gareth Bale doesn’t start. The world’s most expensive player, still working back from a thigh injury, will be on the bench. Although he featured briefly against Malaga over the weekend, so he could make an appearance in the second half.

Cam Newton just cannot wait for his opening fantasy football matchup Sunday.

Yes, there was that one NFL game on Wednesday, the one that New York Giants fans don’t want to talk about and Dallas Cowboys fans can’t stop talking about. But with all due respect to the league’s long history of random midweek games in early September, the NFL season doesn’t quite feel like the NFL season until the first games are played on Sunday. The good news, although it won’t do much to loosen the lips of Giants fans about that game that apparently happened earlier this week, is that this coming Sunday is the first of several months of NFL-enhanced Sundays to come.

SPORTS, THE JOURNAL WAY

The Daily Fix blog provides takes on the latest sports news. Features include The Count, a look at the most revealing sports stats, as well as regular live reports of major sports events. Go to the Journal’s sports page for up-to-date coverage on the latest in sports.

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About The Daily Fix

Jeremy Gordon is a freelance writer who lives in Chicago. He has written for TheAtlantic.com, MTV and Prefix and occasionally Tumbles and Tweets. The last time he cried was when Steve Bartman dropped the ball.

Jared Diamond writes about sports for The Wall Street Journal. He currently serves as a beat reporter covering the New York Mets and Major League Baseball.